SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.]
Swollen-Headed Brilliant. Verses adapted by E. V. Lucas. Drawings by George Morrow. (Methuen and Co. is. net.)— Swollen-Headed William (Struwwelpeter) must have been great fun to write. Some of the adaptations are most amusing, but
might not something have been made of " The hare's own child, the little hare," or, as the big hare is made to typify
Belgium, would that have provided too poignant an arriere pence for so cheerful a book P One of the best of the rhymes is "Fidgety Will " :-
" But Fidgety Will
He wouldn't sit still Though the table was laden
With good things to eat,
And everyone happy And smiling and neat, The house iu good order And money to spare-- He wriggled And struggled And tilted his chair, And all discontented
Still threatened the fare."
Mr. Morrow's many admirers will regret that the task of adapting the illustrations could not furnish much scope to his delightful genius, though the portrait of Lord Kitchener as " The Scissors Man " is a happy conception.—A Ballad of the ' Gloster' and the Goeben.' By Maurice Hewlett. (The Poetry Bookshop. 2d.)—The Ballad of the ' Gloster ' and the Goeben' is a pamphlet pleasantly illustrated in the style made familiar by the "Flying Fame" publications. The ballad itself is not particularly remarkable, though quite agreeable reading. The opening verse gives an idea of its method :— " Come landsmen all and ladies, And listen unto me
A-singing of the Gloster' Upon the Middle Sea."
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